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CD 3281 
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Copy 1 




REPORT 



OF THE 



REV. DR. ETHAN ALLEN, 



IN RELATION TO 



AND 

LETTER 



FROM 



JOHN H. ALEXANDER, ESQ, 



IN REFERENCE TO 



IiHl: 



c. 



hi 



2 DEC 1905 
P, fp ( 



^ 



REPORT OF DR. ETHAN ALLEN, 

IN RELATION TO RECORDS OF THE EXECUTIVE 
DEPARTMENT. 



To His Excellency, Thos. Holliday Hicks, Esq., 

Governor of Maryland: 

In the execution of your commission, under date of Sep- 
tember 11, 1860, directing me ci to collect from any and all 
places of deposit or offices, where such may be on loan, or be 
found, the record books and original documents of all kinds 
belonging to the Council Chamber or relating to the Upper or 
Lower Houses of Assembly, and which belong to the State of 
Maryland, to be, when so collected, deposited for safekeeping 
in the fire-proof Record Office," &c, I have had the unbound 
papers and documents of previous date to 1820, and also the 
unbound volumes hereinafter specified, such as I have been 
able to discover, deposited in the office above designated, as 
required. 

Respecting the papers and documents, I may remark, that, 
as in years past, they still are in a state of perfect confusion, 
and many of them of ruinous decay, which must soon end in 
their entire loss, unless means are taken to prevent it. I spent 
some days in turning them over, in order to get a general idea 
of what they were, and what was their value, and do not hesi- 
tate to say that many of them are of great interest and im- 
portance ; but, to find anything among them which may be 
desired, will bid defiance to any one. A paper sought for, 
may perchance be stumbled upon, but cannot be found by any 
regular search, without an amount of labor certainly not an- 
ticipated. They require, consequently, to be regularly ar- 
ranged, labelled and indexed. This is indispensable in order 
to bring them within the reach of a successful examination 



for any purpose, either by committees of the General Assem- 
bly, officers of the General Government, or others. 

The mass of papers is large and of astonishing variety, 
being the remnant of a hundred and fifty years accumulation. 
Among them are found addresses of Governors to the Assem- 
blies of generations past, and their replies ; letters of states- 
men, members of the bar, generals and army officers, clergy- 
men, merchants, government agents ; petitions of every 
variety, &c, of no little interest, whether to the Executive or 
Legislative departments, or to the historian ; and ought not 
for the honor of the State to be left in their present state of 
confusion. Much has been already lost ; what remains should 
be preserved — it is due to posterity, as well as the present and 
the past. 

Of the bound volumes — numbering not far from one hun- 
dred and sixty — which have been transferred to the Record 
Office, in addition to those found in the Executive Chamber, 
some were found in the present and some in the old Library 
rooms, and some in other places ; of these, there are the fol- 
lowing classes : 

1st. Executive and Council Proceedings 28 volumes. 

2d. Journals of the Upper House 33 u 

3d. Journals of the Lower House 44 " 

4th. Commission Books 12 u 

5th. Letter Books 9 << 

6th. Pardons, &c, granted 4 i( 

7th. Papers relating to Mason and Dixon's 

line 5 " 

8th. Record of Confiscated Property and 

Bonds 2 " 

9th. Transcribed "Maryland Archives" 1 volume. 

10th. Journals of Maryland Conventions 2 volumes. 

11th. Correspondence of the Council of Safety, 

1776 1 volume. 

And about a dozen other volumes, relating to the Militia estab- 
lishment, Subscriptions to the Potomac Canal, Applications, 
Taxables, Army Officers' Accounts and others, Court of Dele- 
gates, Levels of Tide Water, Votes and Proceedings of Senate, 
Elections, &c. 

Of the first class mentioned, Executive and Council pro- 
ceedings, some six or seven volumes are wanting — Liber Z., 
for the years 1637 to 1642; Liber A, 1647 to 1650; and Liber 
B., 1648 to 1650; of these however, there are copies in the 
Land Office, and are held as belonging to that department — 
Liber II. II., L656; 1669 and A. M., 1669, 1674; are in the 
Library of the Historical Society in Baltimore, having been 



loaned to that Society by a resolution of the General Assem- 
bly some years since. I did not think it within the limits of 
your commission to ask their return, supposing 1 the Legisla- 
ture only could authoritatively require it; Libers 1674 to 
1692, and 1703 to 1728, are probably lost; and it might be 
well to compare the examination made by Legislative autho- 
rity just after the revolution, to ascertain whether they were 
lost before or since that time. The earliest records thus, now 
in possession of the Executive of this class, begin with Liber 
K, 1692, and with the exception of a single volume are con- 
tinuous down to 1770; two however need rebinding for their 
preservation. I have gathered up the leaves which were 
scattered and put them in their places. The volume of 1770 
to 1776, is missing; but all save one from 1777 to 1835, are 
now in the Record Office; those following 1835 were not 
removed. 

Of the second class the Upper House and Senate Journals; 
the series is complete down to the Revolution, since that 
period, the volumes embracing the years from 1777 to 1779: 
from 1784 to 1795; from 1803 to 1804; from 1811 to 1815; 
and for 1835 and 1836; being 10 volumes, are all missing. 

Of the third class the Lower House Journals: Of Z, 1637, 
1642, there is a copy in the Land Office; Liber Y, 1649 to 
1669, is in the Historical Library in Baltimore, and wants 
binding. The volumes 24 in number, from 167$* to 1676; 
from 1759 to 1775; from 1781 to 1803, 1821, 1824, 1825 and 
1839; these are all missing and none are known to exist after 
1840. 

Of all the three classes, there are more than fifty volumes 
missing from their place; mostly however, of dates since the 
Revolution. We can only account for these missing volumes 
by supposing that when used by committees, they were never 
returned, their rooms being scattered over the city. 

I have arranged each of these classes by itself, and in chro- 
nological order. 

But putting the different classes together, which have been 
mentioned, we have a continued series with no break of docu- 
mentary history, such as it is believed no other of the colonies 
have, and historically, they are of great value. They furnish 
us with a full documentary history of our State, such as many 
other of the States, which have arisen out of the old colonies, 
have already published, copies of which are now found on the 
shelves of our State Library, much redound to their honor, 
and yet none are so complete, as we believe our own to be, 
and why should Maryland be so behindhand in this work? 
It was indeed entered upon some few years ago, but soon 
ceased to be prosecuted; still State pride, historical justice, 
common education, literary interest, and our civil courts even, 



all require that the matter should not he suffered longer to 
he put off. Why cannot, at least, one volume of our docu- 
mentary history, selected with judgment from our early 
records, as a specimen of what we actually possess, be 
published? 

In former times, the places of deposit, for the books and 
papers of Government were designated and fixed by an act of 
the Legislature. But no such designation has been made 
respecting the present fire-proof Record Office. An order is 
consequently required to be passed; so that each department 
may know what the Government intends upon this subject, 
and there be no ground of conflict among those in office. 

Permit me in conclusion to add a few suggestions; an order 
is evidently required by various considerations, not necessary 
to be here specified; that no volume, paper or document, in 
this department in the Record Office, be allowed by the one in 
charge to be taken out of the room; it being nevertheless open 
to all requisite examinations during office hours. 

In the case of the missing volumes of the Upper and Lower 
Houses of Assembly, such as on further search cannot be 
found, should be supplied from those which have been printed, 
so that the complete series may be found together, as perfect, 
as it possibly can now be made. 

There are many of the 6riginals of the proceedings of both 
the Upper and Lower Houses, which have been copied into 
the bound volumes, perhaps fifty or more, which might well 
be given to the Maryland Historical Society, where they may 
be preserved, as matters of historical interest and curiosity. 
So also might be granted such copies of documents and papers 
as have been transferred into those bound volumes, of which 
there are not a few, and serve now only to cumber the shelves 
where they are, and make examinations more difficult. 

Still further, might it not be advisable to place the volumes 
in the new office, containing the manuscript acts of the Gene- 
ral Assemblies of Maryland, from the beginning down, many 
were never printed, and of those that have been, no full col- 
lection can now be made; making it desirable that a fire-proof 
room being now provided, they should be placed there, be- 
yond the reach of distruction by fire. How needful their 
preservation is, our courts know and our history proves. 

Another series of volumes, being the only copy in existence, 
seems also required to be placed there. I mean the Maryland 
Gazette, having so many and various items of our personal and 
individual history, and existing no where else. Should it not 
1)0 preserved with the most religious care? 

All which is most respectfully submitted, 

Ethan Allen. 

Baltimore Co., November 20th, 1861. 



LETTER FROM J. H. ALEXANDER, Esq., 

IN REFERENCE TO CALENDAR OF DOMESTIC 
STATE PAPERS. 



Baltimore, 21st May, 1861. 

His Excellency, Thomas H. Hicks: 

Sir: — I have the honor to forward to-day, for your Excel- 
lency's inspection and acceptance, three copies of an Index 
to the First Volume of a Calendar of our Domestic State 
Papers. The motives for printing this Index are sufficiently 
explained in the preface which I have prefixed; viz: to make 
practically useful as much as has been hitherto done in regard 
to those State Papers. A dozen hitherto almost inaccessible 
and nearly unknown manuscript volumes are thus laid open 
to every one interested in knowing their contents. I hope 
that both this end, and the mode of attaining it, will meet the 
approval of your Excellency. 

I have to ask your Excellency's approval, also, for a farther 
step which I propose to take in the distribution of the printed 
copies remaining; and which, I think, will be a wholesome 
reform in the ordinary way of dealing with such public docu- 
ments. Instead of leaving such distribution to individual 
caprice, or making the copies themselves, as usual, a perqui- 
site of the members of the Legislature, I propose to put them 
on sale with booksellers, here and elsewhere, at cost; the 
proceeds of sale to be returned to the existing fund, in reim- 
bursement of the expenses of printing and binding. Mr. 
Waters, of this city, has agreed, very public-spiritedly, to 
undertake this part of the operation without any commission 
or compensation for his trouble. I hope that, with this con- 
tribution on his part, at the very low prices at which the 
copies can be put, viz: 25 cents and 50 cents respectively for 
the paper and muslin copies, a considerable portion of the 



l«2»i,° F EGRESS 




8 027 211 ST 



edition can be disposed of, and means, to some extent, be 
obtained for continuing the work. This method will, at least, 
afford means for testing the amount of interest existing in 
the community for such continuance; and if my expectations 
should be otherwise disappointed, the result will serve to 
shew that no more public money or private leisure need be 
applied for a purpose in which, it will then be evident, the 
individual members of our community feel little or no concern. 

Of course, however,, I await your Excellency's expression 
of approval, before taking any further steps. And, mean- 
while, 

I remain, with great respect, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

J. H. Alexander. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRE: 

III 

027 211 121 



